With 320 million people under 25 translating as 20 percent of
the world's youth and a campus population topping 15 million, China
is fighting to ensure full awareness of AIDS exists as well as how
to best oppose the killer virus.
UNICEF has stated that in order to enjoy maximum protection and
awareness of the disease, young people must have a support network
of peers, teachers, parents and communities enabling them to learn
the facts, prevent HIV infection and refrain from discrimination
against those that are afflicted.
In 2005, China reported 135,630 cases of HIV infections, with
31,143 developing into AIDS cases, according to Vice Health
Minister Wang Longde. His estimates placed at 23 percent the amount
of cases related to unprotected sex.
Global research has stated that 70 percent of HIV/AIDS
infections result from unprotected sex, with over half of those
infected ranging between 14 and 25 years old.
As China's long-held ideas and opinions about sex change with
the times, sexually active students are at a much greater risk from
AIDS.
Limited awareness of the disease remains a constant threat with
recent poll by the China Children's Press and Publication Group
finding that a quarter of 4,000 students questioned viewed AIDS as
a distant threat and that close to 20 percent did not fully
understand the danger of sharing needles.
Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, resident representative of UNICEF revealed that
"since the first cases of AIDS were discovered in China in 1985,
the Chinese government has responded to the epidemic with
increasing aggression. In the past year alone the government has
made major strides in promoting HIV/AIDS education, treatment and
control policies."
"Despite the great efforts of the Chinese government, many
Chinese young people still need to increase HIV/AIDS awareness,
especially in terms of prevention," said Nwe.
A UNICEF survey among over 2,000 middle school students in a
major city in 2006 shed light on the fact that an alarming 40
percent of them used no protection measures when first having
sex.
A survey of 825 college students from Hunan Province, conducted
by Central South University's AIDS laboratory in 2005, tracked the
emergence of less-traditional viewpoints: over 50 percent of
students approved of pre-marital sex, over 30 percent had
experienced or would be amenable to experiencing several sex
partners, with 16.9 percent approving of prostitution and 10
percent seeing no harm in homosexuality.
Hou Xin, deputy director of the Social Work Department under the
China Youth College for Political Sciences, said that sex was a
basic human need and that thus suppressing these urges was not
beneficial. However, she added that AIDS-prevention programs should
focus on traditional values and morality, including discouraging
although not clamping down on pre-marital sex.
A survey, The Knowledge and Attitude Toward AIDS of College
Students in Beijing 2006, which investigated about 1200
volunteers and was released at the second session of the Seminar on
the Youth and AIDS on June 2 this year, exposed the true landscape
of AIDS awareness among young people in Beijing.
Over 92 percent saw AIDS or HIV as a great threat with 82
percent being aware that no vaccine had so far been developed.
Unfortunately, 31.7 percent did not differentiate between
HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients. 42.7 percent were also
unaware that the HIV virus will escape detection for a month after
infection.
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The ratio of misunderstanding and discrimination also remains
worryingly high. Over 41.4 percent of respondents felt that insect
bites would spread the disease and 21.4 percent of students polled
saw public bathrooms and swimming pools as the most obvious
locations from which the virus could be contracted.
The outlook also remained bleak for current HIV/AIDS sufferers
with 23 percent expressing their strong unwillingness to share
living quarters with patients and with 44 percent remaining silent
on the subject.
The survey's organizer Zhou Xiaochun interpreted these finds as
showing that understanding of AIDS and HIV in society still has a
long way to go.
Since 2003, special classes have been held for college students
in Beijing in October every year. When returning to their own
schools, they themselves trained other volunteers to help spread
the flow of information to their classmates, teachers, relatives,
friends and so forth.
The future generations, led by the current college students,
must take the lead in fighting back against HIV/AIDS and do their
best to consign the virus to the pages of history.
As the theme for World AIDS Day in 1992 "A Community Commitment"
explains, AIDS protection is the obligation and responsibility of
every single human being and represents a common challenge for the
planet.
(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, June 5, 2007)